Implantation: Get him out!
by Arcofdreams
Summary: *The beginning of HIS revenge*  "Ok, ok, look. See? I'm putting it down."  He saw Ariadne panicking. Why? The old man smiled.  That's when the bat hit him at the back of his head and everything faded into black.  *trying to take Inc. to a whole new level*
1. Chapter 1

The first job is over. Arthur and Ariadne became the new leaders of the team but as they're facing a case they cannot handle alone, they decide to get Cobb back on the team. As they arrive at his place to convince him of coming back, they find him in a terrible shape.

**Chapter 1**

Slowly, very slowly they came to a halt. Arthur removed the keys and undid his seat belt.

"This is it?", asked Ariadne, watching a house on the other side of the street through a small binocular. "Just what did he do to earn himself an estate of this size?"

"Lots of jobs - more than either of us could imagine. And believe me, none of them pleased him at all. Plus, he never had the freedom to choose his jobs, he always did what Global Engineering ordered him to. Of course, he would gain much more liberties and money than any normal thief - but tell me, is it worth it?", said Arthur.

She looked down on her lap.

They backed out of the car and closed the doors noisily. Quickly, they crossed the street - but there was not a single human being around. From far away they could hear a group of children laughing and playing.

Arthur rang the bell and he could hear a somewhat annoying piece of music being played.

"Hey, Cobb it's Ariadne and Arthur here! Would you mind opening the...?"

Something, that was lying to his feet caught his attention. It was a...tiny shred of wood-coloured tape? Why would he..? Then he saw it. The door was made of the wood that the tape should represent and there was another piece of it sticking at the door frame.

"Step aside!", he shouted at Ariadne. Startled, she jumped to the side. Arthur took a few steps back, ran towards the door and threw his full body against it. It wouldn't move a bit.

"We have to find a way inside! He's in grave danger!", he said.

- "GE found him? But how? I thought Saito wouldn't leave Cobb unprotected!

He shook his head. No, this wasn't GE's work – it was someone else's. GE wouln never leave traces like that behind, they were professionals.

"Come on, let's look for a back door!", said Arthur.

He ran around the one side of the building, Ariadne checking the other side. Getting past a garage and some maple trees, he could see a huge hedge at the end of the yard. He stepped on branches and into messy piles of leaves, that were obviously arranged like that by Cobb's children.

A noise struck him, that came from the house – no, it was music!

_**Noooon, rien de rien**_

Is he sleeping?

"Arthur, over here!", he could hear Ariadne shout.

He ran back around the house, as he could not jump over the huge hedge, that would have been be his only other possibility. Finally, he arrived panting at the door Ariadne was pointing at.

"Should we break the glass?"

It was a French window.

**_Je n'ai plus besoin d'eux!_**

"No", he said. "Saito certainly secured the building against this type of burglary. Can you see this lock?" He pointed at a small combination lock at the bottom edge of the door.

"All we've got to do is to find out the combination".

"What about this?", said Ariadne.

He could see her typing in the numbers 5-2-8-4-9-1. The red light at the side that displayed the "lock" status, turned to green.

- "Well done!"

"I thought he would take something only his allies could know", she smiled pleased at him.

They went inside. Now they could hear the music from upstairs growing louder and louder. He indicated her not to make a sound and they slowly climbed the stairs. Gesticulating, he explained her that they should split up in order to find the room it was coming from. As he looked around a corner, he could hear Ariadne gasp from the other corner of the hallway.

"Arthur, take a look at this. You will not like it!"

**_Je repars a zéro!_**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

He stepped next to Ariadne and looked around the room she was pointing at. It was a complete mess. There were clothes and toys spread all over the floor. All they could somehow make out, was that it was most likely a children's room. A window was bashed in and he could see the remains of a shot through radio on a shelf.

More importantly, there were people, all of which were connected to an odd-looking machine in the middle of the room that seemed to be the only thing that wasn't affected by the fight that happened in here. He only knew three of the linked up persons – Cobb and his two children – the other man, however, was a complete stranger. The children seemed to be sleeping calmly in their beds. There was not a sign of them being harmed – whereas Cobb, who was lying face down on the ground with his hands tied behind his back looked a lot heavier injured. His nose was bleeding and there was a long cut in his forearm. The other guy wasn't looking any better. He was about 30 and there was barely anything left of the suit he wore. His glasses were broken and he had a black eye.

_**Ni le bien-en-en-en-en-en**_

The radio was actually still playing – but the CD was damaged. He plugged the device out of the wall.

"What the hell happened here? Who is this guy?", he said pointing at the man leaning against the wall.

"I don't know! But – why didn't they wake up when they heard the music? Didn't they prepare a kick in there?", she said.

She heard a cracking sound underneath her shoe. It was pieces of broken glass, but the window was was bashed in from the inside?

"They were sedated", said Arthur. "They won't wake up that easily."

"So what do we do?"

He took a closer look at the machine. It was weird. There was another wire sticking out and it wasn't connected to any of the people here – it left the room. He followed the trace of it and was lead through the hallway, down the stairs and he finally found himself in front of the cellar door.

"I don't like this at all", said Ariadne.

"Let's see what we can find in there", he said. "Can you wait here? So you can warn me when someone comes."

He opened the door and could see nothing but darkness. The tiny light switch at the wall next to him didn't work, so he pulled out a torch and placed his right hand holding his gun on top of it, getting a firm hold of it.

Step for step he went down the stairs, following the wire. As he arrived at the bottom and turned around he could see them in the tiny light cone of his torch – more people dressed in suits, all connected to another machine in the middle of the circle they formed. He heard a scream from upstairs.

"Ariadne!"

He ran back from where he came from and spurted up the stairs and through the cellar door. There she was – held by an elder man with a pistol pointed at her sleeve.

"Let her go."

"Boy, this is none of your business. I can't even see why you came here today!", said the old man.

"I said let her GO."

"You are forcing me to do things, that I never intended to do. And if you don't put down that gun of yours anytime soon, I believe that you will have to suffer a few unpleasant consequences. You have 5 seconds."

What? He couldn't shoot at him, as he might hit Ariadne but if he let go of his weapon, there was no way that he could protect her.

"5...4...3"

"Ok, ok, look. See? I'm putting it down."

He saw Ariadne panicking. Why? The old man smiled.

That's when the bat hit him at the back of his head and everything faded into black.


	3. Chapter 3

((I won't be able to write anything during the next couple of days so here's a third chapter in advance ;) ))

**Chapter 3:**

Happy birthday to you -

Happy birthday to you -

Happy birthday dear Arthur!

Happy birthday to youuu!

"Wow, thank you everybody!", said Arthur, overwhelmed by the surprise party everyone organized for him. Confetti was falling from the ceiling and colored streamers passed his ears. He never imagined that they would throw a party for him at Cobb's place. Everyone was there! His parents and grandparents, Eames, Yusuf, Ariadne, Saito, literally everyone he knew!

Guests approached him to shake his hands, to congratulate him and he returned their compliments gracefully. Among them were even people he had never seen before! He shook dozens of hands and thanked for all the good wishes he received. As he was finally done with the majority of the guests – it felt like hours - Eames came over and patted him on his back.

"How do you feel, buddy?", he said. It seemed to Arthur that he had already drunk a little too much. "I still remember me turning-"

"Arthur!"

It was an odd-looking old man. He...no he couldn't.

"I'm Ari's grandpa! Edward Johnson by the way, nice to meet you!" He offered his hand and Arthur shook it nervously, almost spilling his own drink all over the floor. Edward's Southern accent confused him a bit. "I've already heard so much about you! How are you doing? Isn't this a fantastic festivity!", he said. How fast could this man talk?

"But please! I'm only talking and talking! Sit down, take a seat, will you? We've got another surprise for you!"

He rudely grabbed him by the shoulders and made him sit down on one of the nearest armchairs.

"And this", he began, "is something all of us have been thinking about for quite a while and since we know that you always wanted to go there – here are two tickets for you and a person of your choice to Peru!"

"To – wow! I, I never thought that you would...", Arthur was speechless because of this amazing gift. "And when does it start?"

Edward gave him the envelope that contained the tickets. It said:

_'Arthur, we wish you all the best. And unless you haven't guessed it yet – your flight goes tonight! Have fun!'_

Arthur looked up again and stood up from his armchair, spreading out his arms.

"Thank you guys so much! But - I have to go packing!"

"Oh, we already did that for you", said Edward pointing at some baggage in one corner of the room.

"Yeah, well g-great!", he said. Were those already there just a few seconds ago? "But who wants to go with me?"

A huge turmoil started among the guests. Everyone wanted to. He heard screams saying "I want to, please take me!" And "I always wanted to fly!"

What an odd scene, he wondered. But one person wasn't saying anything. She was leaning against the wall with a drink in her hand and had a vacant expression in her face. He stepped closer to her and asked himself – judging from her expression – if she was thinking the same thing.

"Isn't this weird?", she said.

And yes, she thought the same thing.

"Yeah, right?", he said. "I never saw my friends acting like this. And sorry, but your grandpa is a really persistent person."

"What, my grand- ?"

There was a huge bang. It was the sound of 5 bottles of champagne being opened at the very same moment. People were calling him to chink glasses with them.

"Sorry, gotta go, because they won't stop calling me unless I come", he said.

He grabbed one of the hardly filled glasses and raised it just like everyone around him. The simultaneity of how they did it made him shiver.

"On you, Arthur!", said Edward.

"And on Ariadne and Eames and Yusuf and Saito and Cobb and all of y-"

He stopped suddenly, noticing what was so weird about this whole scene. Weren't they partying at Cobb's place? So where was Cobb?

Thirty pairs of eyes were looking at Edward.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

((This will partly be a dialogue scene^^ Oh and I would really appreaciate reviews...as I'm not a native English speaker after all))

"Well, well...", said 'Edward'. There was no Southern accent.

It all dawned on Arthur now, the reason why he came to Cobb's place, his search with Ariadne in the house, the shape he found Cobb and his children in, the men in the suits, the old bastard right in front of him. And the sudden hit on the back of his head.

"I am afraid I had to improvise. Obviously I could not think of anything else but Cobb's living room the moment you rushed in. The 'tickets' should make sure that you would stay out of our business long enough so we could finish it, but as it looks for now, my men are already done", he said.

"You old...! Ariadne!" Why wasn't she even looking at him? Her eyes were fixated on the old man.

"She won't answer...anymore. She's a projection and you should know that. By finding out about the weirdness of this situation, your subconscious has stopped making her act as it wanted her to. I thought you were a professional? But, you know what, I am in a good mood today. Before I end this joke you may ask me three questions. Choose wisely – they will most likely be the last questions you will be asking a person. You should at least have the chance to know about what is going happen."

"Sorry?"

"You understood me very well. Bad question. 2 questions left."

His knuckles cracked due to his anger.

"Where. Is. Ariadne?"

"You should be able to find that out on your own. Bad question. 1 question left."

"That is NOT an answer!" Arthur screamed at the old man. "Are you aware of the fact that I am the one to be in control here? I – and only I am the commander of these projections around you! You have nothing to oppose that!"

He pulled a gun from behind his back and released the safety catch. The projections around him moved closer.

"Yes, I am aware of that. You're not really smart, much less a professional, are you? Bad question. No question left. Prepare for your end."

"What are you...?"

"You have yet to learn a lot about your own occupation, Arthur. You will soon enough – my men are currently preparing everything for your end. You will experience the same as Cobb does. In this dream level? You won't have more than an hour to go. Bye." He smiled at him. What was he trying to do? "Oh, and why don't you find out whether you're sedated yourself?" What a cruelly sweet smirk!

He pointed his gun at his sleeve, pulled the trigger and he saw the projections throw their bodies on him one after the other. There was nothing he could make out in the turmoil except for limbs and heads wildly being mixed together. What did that mean? He had to LEARN? He'd been in this business for 10 years, his first extraction having took place when he was still a child! One by one, the projections let go of fighting and took their former places of the party again. The old man was gone. They just started chatting and laughing again! He knew, that he had seen this behavior already dozens of times but still it astonished him!

But for now, he had to focus on getting out of here – including Ariadne (he assumed that she had to be somewhere inside this dream) as well as Cobb and his children. Who would do this horror to small, helpless children?

And where was either of them? He had no idea. If the children had actually already been asleep in their beds when they were connected to the machine, they must have been in there for at least 12 hours! And he could not imagine that Cobb was added to the old man's dream party just shortly before Ariadne and he arrived.

12 hours in reality. 10 days here. 200 days in Level 2. Almost 11 years in Level 3.

All he could was beg for them not to have been forced too deep.

And how was he supposed to find them? He could currently be in a dream world 20 times as big as the real world. Or 100 times. Who knew? But there had to be a way – there simply had to be!

He could not believe his eyes! The projections were MELTING in front of him! Whereas they would not seem to notice anything or feel affected by what just happened, they merely kept on talking. Slowly, from head to toe their bodies were oddly getting disfigured and seemed to be eating up themselves. Like ice in the sunshine, he saw them melting right before his eyes, their former bodies ending up as weird ocher puddles of liquid on the floor. What the...?

A lonely phone on the coffee table rang. A PHONE?

He picked it up, feeling the tension in his whole body. He pressed the green button and held the phone to his ear, not sure whose voice he should be hearing now.

"Hello?", he said.

"Do you want me to help you find Cobb or not?"

With gaping mouth, he realized who he was talking to.

"Is that you...Mal?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

"What? Wait! How is it possible for you to be here? Cobb told me that he killed - "

"- the part of him he could not let go of. The Mal he tried so hard to forget but he simply could not", said Mal.

Arthur had no idea what he should respond to that.

"I am nothing like that. His mind can create two different versions of the Mal he knew. All you've seen so far is the one, who always attempted to sabotage him. You could look at her as some sort of Virus he had no medicine for – until he shot her way down in Limbo. He surpassed his own subconscious! But in doing so, something changed deep down inside him."

"What are you?", asked Arthur.

"I am his self-defense. And right now I can't do anything for him. These are forces, that his subconscious has never faced before! He – and thus I – have no idea what to do. That is why I called you. I – we need you!"

He swallowed. On the ground, he could see the gun that the old man had left after he shot himself with it. What had he gotten himself into? These were forces that Cobb had never faced before. How was he supposed to do anything against them?

"What happened to the projections?", he asked looking at the odd puddles of liquid on the floor.

"Your subconscious hasn't been trained enough. They cannot bear a creation of Cobb's mind such as me. He is stronger than you, Arthur", she said.

Yet he was trapped.

Cobb was his partner. He still is. If he ever wanted to see him or anyone else again, he had to try it! What should he do, anyway? The longer he stayed here, the longer did those suited men have time to do their business. He shoved the gun into the back of his trousers.

"I'm in", he said.

"Alright. Pre...not to...! Hold..." White noise.

"What? I can't understand you!"

"I'm calling from...vel 4! …...barely...connection!...lucky because...sedative..."

Click. The connection broke off. Okay, it was obvious that it wouldn't persist long if she was calling him from Level 4! He'd never gotten anyway near it! That sedative must truly be strong if it could stabilize such a construct.

His...vision got blurry? Everything became indistinct in front of his eyes! Or was the dream level dissolving? A strong pain struck him in his head. He fell on his knees, that weren't touching anything but darkness. With his hands pressing against his sleeves he started to scream but no noise was coming out of his mouth! The pain grew stronger and stronger and the dizziness began. It felt as though – if that was even possible – the darkness blurred before his eyes. The pain was now as strong as a sword that pierced his entire head again and again. Powerless, he fell with his face on the ground. He vomited but again nothing left his mouth.

All of a sudden, reality got hold of him again and he hit ground painfully. His whole body was feeling numb and he could hardly see anything around him. Gasping for air he turned himself onto his back and found that the pain in his head was gone. He was, judging from the heavy metal door and the hundreds of lock boxes around him, inside a bank vault? Dim, flickering light illuminated the room in which he could now make out the shapes of people – 8 in all.

There was Cobb and his children, connected with another machine in the middle of the vault. Apart from them, 4 more wires linked up another four people of which he recognized some, as he had seen them in Cobb's cellar. The eighth person was standing next to his face and looked down on him with a big machine gun in his hand.

"Who do we have here? One of his friends, I guess", he heard the harsh voice of the man say. "Get up. This is no playground for boys like you."

He forced himself to somehow stand upright on his feet.

"What...do you want...with Cobb and his children?", said Arthur. He almost couldn't speak.

"None of your business. Get over here." He pointed at an empty chair. Arthur let his body fall down on it.

"Now how do I proceed with you? You came at a - "

A huge bang interrupted the silence.

"What is wrong with this vault?", the man screamed. "How come people can just walk in and out of here?"

From where the bang had come, he could see a person lying on the ground. A girl? Ariadne!

"Get up, girl!"

The man turned his back to Arthur. Bad move.

Arthur pulled his gun.

"Too bad you can't watch two people at the same time, hm?" And he shot.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

_((Maybe now you'll hate me for having to wait even longer for continuation xD But there's good news as well, I just finished the basic concept of the whole story. And I like where it's going!))_

"Sweety, wake up!" She felt a hand softly joggling her at her shoulder. Opening her eyes, she first had to block them off from the bright light of the sun that was shining through the window. She tried to reach the curtains as much as she could but her body wouldn't listen to her. All she felt were heavy pains in her limbs.

"The doctor is going to arrive soon. He will surely make you feel better! How are you right now?", she said kindly.

"I don't know", she said. She had to cough drily. "But I think it's only getting worse. I'm – I'm freezing. And I can hardly move without my body aching. Can't you make the doctor come more quickly?"

Why was it so cold? She was lying there covered in blankets and judging from the bright light coming from outside, it had to be awfully hot in here!

"Your uncle just called him. It won't take long I'm sure!"

Her aunt caressed her hair. "Get well soon, you don't want to miss the beach, do you?"

"The beach?", she wondered.

"Of course! We heard that these ones here in Barcelona are especially great! And since your parents don't let you go on vacation with us everyday, we should at least be able to enjoy the little time we spend together!", she said.

She gave her a kiss on the forehead and left the room. "Tell me if you need anything!"

This was the biggest room of their bungalow. She wasn't sure how she could tell but this was the biggest one. She was lying in a soft bed and there was a white duvet cover on it. As she turned her head to the left and saw a bedside table, that had a glass of water and a warm washcloth on it. Her aunt really cared a lot about her. On the right, there was another bedside table with a small mirror on it. She looked at her face in the reflection and saw how pale she was with dark circles around her eyes and bluish lips. Obviously, this was no average illness.

The door bell rang. Outside the room she could hear a pair of feet hurrying towards the sound. After hearing a female voice, she could make out another, deeper one. Two pair of feet were now coming to her room. As the door opened, she closed her eyes in order to pretend to be sleeping.

"...and this is her room. But please be careful, my little Ari is only 11 and she hasn't had any major sickness since she had the measles!", said the female voice.

"Of course I will. This isn't my first case in this area. I promise that she will get well soon, so you can enjoy your vacation!", said the deeper voice. She assumed that it belonged to a Russian person.

"Hello, little girl", he said. She opened her eyes. That doctor was...? Certainly not. "My name is Dr. Manovitch and I'm here to care for your health. How are you feeling?"

"Sick. I'm freezing and I've had to cough non-stop for the past few hours."

"Well, that sounds rather bad, doesn't it?" He carefully pulled down her blanket. "Would you mind sitting up and lifting your shirt? Like that, I can auscultate you more easily."

She did as he said and turned his back towards him. She closed her eyes to prepare for the coldness of the metal that was about to touch her.

The doctor placed his stethoscope right between her should blades. And as expected, it was as cold as ice! Slowly, she opened her eyes again. She was looking right into the mirror but there was no face looking back. Because she was sitting now, the reflection wasn't showing her face anymore, but her waist. Weird. There was an inscription on it, but she couldn't read it mirrored. Startled, she looked down on her waist.

_'How did you get here?'_

What?

The doctor put down his stethoscope and she quickly pulled her shirt down.

"I'll just talk to your aunt for a minute. It seems as if you will have to stay in bed for a few more days..."

He left the room and she tried to remember what this writing was supposed to mean. It was obvious how she got here – she was on vacation with her aunt and her uncle! The just took a flight from Paris to Barcelona and that's it.

That wasn't it. Of course, this was how it must have been but she couldn't remember any of it! So how had she come here?

At first it seemed to her like a tiny electric shock that struck her body, but shortly after it felt like a thousand shocks pelting down on her.

She had it made directly after Cobb had brought her into her first dream session. This tattoo was a tiny second totem, of which no one except her knew.

She remembered everything. Getting to Cobb's place with Arthur only to find them in that horrible shape and eventually Arthur being hit by a man with a baseball bat. Wait – that man was the doctor who had just checked her!

This was all fake – a dream built of her memories! Outside, she could hear the man's voice.

"Wait, what are you doing? Stop i- …...!"

Shots. A scream. Another scream, this time louder. Silence.

"Ariadne. We need your help!"

Who was talking to her? From where? She looked all over the room. Nothing

"Ariadne, please!"

The mirror. In the mirror she could see Mal's face.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

"Mal? What are you doing here?", gasped Ariadne.

"I'm sorry, sweety I can't tell you just now. Time's running! I've already found Arthur but he won't be enough to end this thing. Cobb is in deep trouble and believe me, if we don't hurry up then Arthur and you will experience the same horrors!", said the Mal in the mirror.

"But how is it possible that you...?"

"Arthur will tell you! Just tell me you're in, I'll transport you to where he is!"

She hesitated. Arthur and Cobb in trouble. The only people she ever trusted apart from her family. Her mentors. She had to go.

"Alright. Will I -"

"- get your 20-something year old body back? Yes, this is just a memory of yours. I can get you out of it, including your true body", she said. "10 seconds. Try to hold your breath."

And her face disappeared from the mirror. A tiny, almost unhearable creak interrupted the silence. She looked up from the bedside table and saw the door opening very, very slowly.

"It seems you found out, hm?", she heard the man say.

Hobbling, a man entered her room. He had a gun in his right hand and had to support its grip with his left hand. There was sweat all over his body and she made out a nasty wound in his leg but other than that he seemed fine.

"And if you won't keep quiet and enjoy your time inside your own f***ing memories, I will have to shut you up in a different way." Now he was screaming – in pain?

"I hope you'll have fun now. Try not to miss me in Limbo."

He lifted his gun and she could see the barrel of it pointed directly between her eyes. This was it. She would be going to lose all her common sense and spend the rest of her life in Limbo, her brain turning into a mush of burned out thoughts. She had heard about it from Cobb but never had she believed that it would happen to her one day.

She closed her eyes and heard the shot. She wasn't sure, what happened first, her blacking out or the bullet hitting the wall right behind her, but she could still make out the helpless scream so full of fear, that came from the man who was about to end her life.

Darkness. The silence echoed in the empty sphere she was in. She didn't dare to breathe. There was no gravity, no time, no nothing. This was Limbo for her? No – the man would have screamed in success if he had hit her. This was Mal's doing, she transported her "to where Arthur is".

All of a sudden, gravity set in and it felt like she was kicked roughly back into reality, when from a height of 6 feet, she harshly hit ground. There was an annoying whistling in her ear, that would not let go of her. A man's voice screaming. She hardly understood anything of what he said.

'Bank vault'?

A rough hand grabbed her arm. She tried to get rid of it but the grip was too strong for her. Another, familiar voice set in. This time, she definitely understood everything it said.

"Too bad you can't watch two people at the same time, hm?"

A shot. Did it hit her? Her body was too numb to except that. But at least the grip loosened itself and blood rushed into her arm again.

She forced her eyes to open and was dazzled by the light that brightened the room. It wasn't strong but enougn for her in her current state. Someone shoved the body lying next to her away.

"Who are you?", she said.

"Your savior." He chuckled.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

((Here we go. But from this chapter on, you will have to think a bit more ;) ))

He hardly managed to roll the lifeless body of the heavy man to the side. His shot had hit him directly in the heart, leaving him no time to scream or fight his inevitable death. Slowly, Arthur regained all his senses back and sat down next to the girl that had just been transported into the dim bank vault. She was looking at him but her deep brown eyes didn't seem to focus properly.

"Who are you?" Her voice was broken and weak. But it would only take minutes until she would be back again.

"Your savior", he said. He couldn't suppress a chuckle.

"Oh stop it", she said laughingly. "What are you doing here? Did Mal find you as well?"

"She did a great job, I must admit that." Arthur turned over to the dead body. He carefully put his machine gun aside and started to unbutton his jacket. After having examined every single pocket it had, he disappointedly let go of it. "He's got nothing that is of any use to us. Come on, get up we have to hurry!"

"Wait, what are you doing?", wondered Ariadne.

"Going to Level 2 of course. How are we supposed to help Cobb from where we are now? I think you've heard what Mal said. He's suffering!"

"Okay, but what are we going to do once we've found them? If not even Cobb had any idea of these dream techniques?"

He couldn't answer.

"We'll find that out when it comes to that point. Right now, there's no time to lose! Let's go!"

He looked at his watch, that he had set after the old men had told him about him only having left 1 hour to go. The timer was currently saying '00:41:23'.

41 minutes in Level 1. About 14 hours in Level 2. 11-12 days in Level 3. 228 days in Level 4.

All they had to do, was to make it through Level 2 quickly and they would be spared for another 10 days. That was at least something he could work with.

"Ready?", he asked Ariadne.

"How will we find the next dream machine?"

"We hope, that Mal's antenna's working better now. If not, I guess we'll have to improvise."

She nodded. "Let's do this", she said.

They plugged in the electrodes and prepared themselves for entering Level 2. They immediately fell asleep.

The next thing Arthur remembered, was the dry taste of hot sand in his mouth. He quickly spit it out but could still feel some left corns on his tongue.

"Ariadne!", he shouted.

"I'm here!" The response came from somewhere behind him. Having made sure, that she made it safely to this Level, he sat up and took a look at his watch. It had set itself? The display said '13:39:36', so at least this was something he wouldn't have to worry about on this dream journey.

He looked up from the watch and realized where he was. This had to be some sort of replica of the Australian outback! There were only a few bushes and grasses around and the sand certainly had a reddish touch. Trees were something he couldn't make out at all. But most importantly, the sun was burning down from the sky as if it had been given the task to toast the earth they were standing on.

In the very far distance, however, he could make out something the looked like a cottage.

"Can you see that?", he said. Ariadne was still rubbing the sand off her trousers. She looked up, startled.

"Yeah - looks like a cottage. What's up with it?"

"Cobb and the others are in there", he said.

"What? Wait, how can you be so sure?"

"It's simple, but you can't know it because of your lack of experience. Do you know where we are right now? This ground, on which we're currently standing, is exactly where Cobb entered Level 2, probably already as a hostage of the suited men."

"Why is that?" She seemed perplex.

"Cobb is the suited men's 'subject'. And he has always been in this dream session. Luckily, none of the people, who are currently on this dream Level have any idea of the fact, that we -intruders, so to speak- have entered their dream as well. Thus -and this is the task of the architect as you might know- there is a preprogrammed place in the dream for the subject to appear when entering each Level. Since they do not know of our existence here, they could not make us appear anywhere else in time and we are automatically being treated as subjects. That's why we're right here. And I believe you admit, that it wouldn't make sense to place Cobb as their hostage anyway too far away from the next dream machine, don't you? Consequently, the machine has to be in there."

"Amazing!" Her eyes were wide open.

"No time for compliments. That is just mere experience. We have to go! Time's running!"

"Alright!"

And they started to run into the direction of the cottage, as fast as they could. It was probably only half a mile away, so they should be able to get there pretty fast, thought Arthur.

When just seconds after, he directly ran into the invisible wall in front of him and heard his nose make a revoltingly ugly sound.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

"Holy shit!", he shouted as he bounced off the wall and harshly hit ground once again. What the hell was that? He could feel blood running down his lips. Was his nose broken? At least there was no feeling in it.

Ariadne was standing at the place, where Arthur was hit so badly, examining the air. With two hands sweeping this invisible wall, she seemed to him like a mime he had once seen in the streets of New York City.

"Yes, there's definitely something", she said. "It's strong but I can't quite make out what it is. It's certainly nothing physical like glass. All I'm feeling is air!"

"A force field? Is that supposed to be some kind of defense fortress?", he said.

"Not sure. But seems reasonable. These guys aren't the ones, who wouldn't at least prepare _something_ for intruders. Do you think guns might break it?"

"We don't have any. Cobb wasn't supposed to have one either, being the subject after all. But I wouldn't want to try – what do you think would happen if the bullets were to bounce off as well?"

He looked at his watch: '13:22:14'. It didn't seem as if they were going to end this level any time soon. So much for having 10 days to go on Level 3.

Arthur felt a strong wind beneath his knees near the surface of the ground. Apart from projections - random things do not happen in dreams, this he did know. So what was it about? He turned around to see where it was coming from. Nothing. The horizon was empty. He examined the earth and there it was: A stick had been lifted from the ground and started to draw something into the sand. He looked at what it said:

_'This is Mal. I hope you have time?'_

"Ariadne! Come over here! Look!", he shouted.

She ran over and read the inscription as well.

"No we don't, Mal! What is this all about?", she screamed into the air, not sure where she was supposed to look at.

_'I can hear you fair enough.'_

"Wow, great – this is no time for jokes!", she said.

The stick lifted itself again.

_'What you can see here – is a basic form of Implantation. Nothing too much, really – but it can fend intruders like you off anytime. Not even Cobb knew about it.'_

"Then how do you?", said Arthur.

_'I had to find out today – the hard way.'_

"How can we break the wall? Or even better – why can't you?", he said.

_'Bad connection. You should know that. Lifting this stick is all I'm capable of right know.'_

"So how do we break it then?"

_'Implantations can be fought – using your mind. Basically all it takes to destroy it, is to have a strong will and lots of time. You will have to train your mind if you actually want to pass the next Levels – this wall is nothing compared to what other defenses they have set up.'_

"Should we create things that can destroy it then? Subjects aren't capable of doing this! We can NOT influence the dream!"

_'- nor could extractors create force fields like that. Maybe you have noticed that these people use a different dream machine and stronger sedatives? This isn't like anything you have faced before. But no – no weapons or anything yet. You are not trained enough. For now, all you can do is to try to shape a path through the wall.'_

He hesitated to answer. Ariadne was looking at him, questioning.

"Alright. How can we do that?", he said.

_'Place yourselves right in front of it. Think of pushing it away with your thoughts. A strong will can be enhanced by strong emotions – so you will most likely have to make it clear to you WHY you're doing this. WHO you're doing this for. That's all I can say for now.'_

"For Cobb?", he said looking at Ariadne.

"For Cobb", she agreed. "Let's do this!"

They walked over to where their footsteps had ended earlier. Reaching out their hands, they could feel the wall that separated them from Cobb and his children – from freedom – from Level 3.

They closed their eyes. The fight had begun.

'12:59:59'.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

((Please notice, that the genre of my story has changed - it should remain a surprise until now ;D))

1...2...For Cobb!, he thought desperately. He focused all of his mind on the wall right in front of him. It neither moved nor disappeared. Nothing. Sweat ran down his cheeks.

The sun was still burning down and it almost seemed to him as if it had gotten even hotter. There was not a single cloud in the sky. Of course there wasn't – clouds had no purpose for the suited men.

"How's it going for you?", he asked Ariadne whose expression told him, that she wasn't feeling any better than him.

"Nothing", she answered. "It won't move and I'm slowly running out of ideas." Her breathing was terrible. There was an awful crackling noise coming from her throat.

He glanced at his watch. '01:22:41'. Time was running out. His thirst almost killed him – but this was nothing he could worry about. This was a dream, physical suffering was of no importance here!

Another attempt. He had to keep on trying it!

1...2...he focused all his senses...For Cobb! For his children! For seeing my family again! For everything! And the wall withstood. Next to him, Ariadne collapsed exhausted.

"No! Ariadne!" He was able to catch her before she hit ground, only find her in a terrible state. Her lips were dried out, her eyes didn't seem to focus properly and her limbs were hanging down lifelessly. He slowly put her down and placed his head on her chest, in order to feel her heartbeat. It was still there.

"Please", he whispered. "Don't leave me just now! I can't save him alone! And I wouldn't be able to live on like that if I knew, that your mind was trapped somewhere down in Limbo...because of an old bastard like him!"

He realized he was crying. A lone tear ran down his nose, as he sat there bent over Ariadne's weak body. It dropped right next to where her head was laying. If only that damn wall hadn't been there! They simply could have moved on to the next Level and everything would have been fine! Alone, he was in no shape to destroy it. With Ari passing out, his last hope was gone. Their weak attempt to save Cobb would end here, in this cheap replica of Australian outback, in the dream of some weird suited men and Arthur's and her minds would slowly turn crazy in Limbo – if the men's 'business' didn't hit them first. He let his body fall onto the hot sand next to Ariadne.

Who would've thought that Ariadne played such an important role in his life? She had always been there during the past years. Side by side, they had finished so many jobs, of which none was easy at all. How could they possibly fail here? They knew everything about each other – she was more of a sister to him than anyone had ever been. Did the phrase 'sister' even suit her? She was more than that even though he couldn't quite make out what she was to him. Important. More important than anyone. Even...more important than Cobb?

His eyes opened immediately. He had to try it! Now or never! If this wasn't strong enough – then nothing was. He jumped onto his feet but the quick change of position and the strong heat led to his blood rushing out of his brain. Dizziness slowed him down but he knew what to do. Powerless, he tumbled to the wall and supported himself against it. One last time. He wouldn't have the strength to do a lot more.

1...2...For Ariadne! The wall didn't disappear. It didn't break either. But why was he able to feel nothing in front of him? He moved a bit further. There it was again, the wall as strong as ever.

Between his feet, the stick had started to move again.

_'Congratulations, Arthur. Your very own force field.'_

'1:11:54'

He went over to Ariadne and lifted her on his shoulder. If she couldn't move on her own, he would have to carry her. Step by step, he went closer into the area he had tried to enter so hard all day long. With barely a meter of radius around him, the thought of getting Ariadne out of here alive kept him going. And the cottage slowly came closer and closer. It seemed like an eternity until he finally stood in front of the shabby wooden door that shaped the gate to Level 3. Someone would be waiting in there. A guardian to prepare the kick. How was he supposed to fight him? His hand moved mechanically and opened the creaking door a tiny bit, when it was harshly kicked open from the inside. Arthur was knocked to the ground and he had no chance but to let Ariadne fall as well.

"Who the hell do you think you are?", a young man's voice said. "What makes you think that you could just walk in here like that? Hell, how did you even get here? That Russian guy had told me, that the force field would work properly! Now I have to end this myself...sometimes I just can't believe, that I'm always surrounded by idiots!"

He pulled a gun from behind his back. Arthur was too weakened to fight back. If only he could have saved Ariadne...

"Enjoy your time in Limbo!" He shot. Now why didn't he feel everything turn black? No pain either. Instead, the man in front of him screamed in terror! He was holding his shoulder that was obviously bleeding. Blood ran out between his fingers and after a couple of minutes, his body slumped to the ground, twitching in pain. His very own force field was still active, after all.

"But how...?" He could hear him whisper. Arthur crawled on his knees towards the suffering man.

"What did the old man tell me?", said Arthur. "Oh, yes. You have yet to learn a lot about your own occupation."

With two fingers, he closed the man's eyes.

Force fields because of strong emotions. This was something he definitely had to keep in mind.

'1:00:01' * tick * '1:00:00' * tick * '0:59:59'


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11:**

((I'm sorry to say that, but please don't expect daily updates from now on...the story is still getting more and more complex and I will have to think every chapter through - thoroughly. I hope that I can manage to upgrade every two days, though ;) ))

Without having to think a lot, he had already connected Ariadne and him to the machine within seconds. 20 more hours on the next dream level. They would have to hurry. A second time, he felt the device suck his thoughts into a deep sleep. 'Cobb, we're coming!', he thought.

He came to and was roughly hit by a boot that made him remember the injury in his nose from the last level.

"Damn!", he mumbled as he got up still feeling the persisting pain. But first things first, he would have to find Ariadne. She couldn't be too far from here, they were still treated as subjects after all. He looked around to see where he was and it blew his mind. People everywhere! Hundreds – no thousands of teeming people surrounded him. They were carrying bags and baskets in their hands and he was able to figure out that he stood on a town square. It was framed by huge buildings -skyscrapers-, shopping malls, commercial buildings and restaurants.

"Welcome to downtown NYC", he gasped.

A hand grabbed his arm from behind and he whipped around.

"Thank god, I thought I was never going to find you!", said Ariadne.

"Ariadne!", he said and could not help but to hug her. He was glad to find that she returned the favor but after he let go of her, there was a questioning expression in her eyes.

"So tell me. How did we make it out of there? All I remember is the heat, the lack of water and a light at the end of the tunnel with the headline: 'Good Luck in Limbo' above", she said.

He looked to the ground, not sure what to tell her. 'It's because I thought about you' wasn't quite what he had in mind.

"Well...", he began. "You remember how Mal told us, that strong emotions would support our attempts at destroying it? I didn't quite destroy it but I could withstand the power of the wall long enough to get us through it."

"Wow! But – how? I mean we tried so many times and time was already running out!"

"Yeah well actually...I thought of something different than Cobb. I just found that I could find more strength for it by thinking of things that are more important to me", he said.

"Wait, like what - ?", she asked.

"Like...it's hard to - " He got stuck in the middle of his sentence when he was harshly pushed to the side by a group of people that moved unusually fast. More people began to gather speed. And no matter how hard Ariadne and he tried to escape the crowd – they simply got tossed around by their overwhelming power. "Stop it! Let go of me! Ariadne!", he screamed but no one seemed to care. Slowly he lost sight of her in the pool of heads and was forced to run with them, in order to not get overrun.

A shot. Wait, what? A shot?

Another one. The crowd panicked. They started to run wildly into different directions and he had to go somewhere as well! He had to find Ariadne! Just what was going on? Screams of terror resounded in his ears. His senses were blinded by the excess of impressions around him. He heard another shot and a man right next to him slumped to the ground, not showing any sign of life in him – which was even unusual for a projection! He instinctively dodged and he saw that it was a good decision when another bullet passed his head so closely that he could still hear it whirr in his ear. It came from behind him?

He threw himself to the side to avoid another possible shot and turned around to see where the bullet had come from. It was hard to make out anything at all, assuming that hundreds of people blocked and confused his sight. How should he evade something he couldn't even see? He needed shelter – quickly. But where could he find a place safe enough to not get followed? Also, he would yet have to make sure nothing happened to Ariadne.

Ariadne! What if she'd already been hit? Never ending vacation in Limbo? He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if that was the case. To the right he could see a side street off the main square. This indeed would be a safe place for now – at least safe enough to think about where to go next. Precious time. Wasted time.

He had to safe her now or she would be killed right away. He heard another shot.

The field around him emerged again.

"Let's see how strong that bullet is."


	12. Call

I'm sorry, no update today.

Instead, I would like to make a call to everyone, who's reading this story, but also to everyone who just stumbled across this update.

Let's look at Japan in these horrifying days. Let's honor the people, who have died so far but also the amazing 50 workers who try to stop the meltdown at this very moment. Let's honor the Japanese people, who remain calm whereas most other countries in the world would start a mass panic.

It's these days that show how great humans can act together if only they have the right will and intentions.

But it's also these days that show us how reckless we humans act in this world. By setting up things like power plants that do not only endanger those who built it, but also the nature, animals and innocent people.

The meltdown is said to end in a catastrophe by Friday if the 50 workers do not get to cool the reactor's core down to 100°C. If you're religious, include them in your prayers – if not, try not to forget what an amazing work they are doing right now!

But all of you can do donations. It doesn't have to be much and I am the last to force you into doing anything – but I just want to remind you that we can actually do something to help the people, who are currently homeless, contaminated, without food or water or have lost their relatives or family.

Thanks to all of you!

I am not Japanese, in case you were wondering. I am German and not affected by any of the happenings in Japan nor do I have any relatives or friends there. It's just that I couldn't help but to make this call.

P.S.: I'm sorry if I'm misusing this space. I know this kind of call should be done something else. Thanks for accepting it anyway :)


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12:**

_((I'm currently looking for a beta! I'm not really a fan of ordering someone to do it because I think that voluntary betas do their job with passion and joy instead of the thought of 'having to do this whether I like it or not'. If someone's interested – write me a message! I prefer betas who have already done jobs before by the way ;) ))_

19:36:21

It was easy for him to push his way through the crowd now. Projections were merely repulsed by his very own defense – his feelings for Ariadne. He once again went through his main priorities while he ran through the crowd, knowing this would make him a hard target.

Priority #1: Find Ariadne.

Priority #2: Find the gunman.

Priority #3: Find the dream machine.

Seemed easy enough so far. Except for the fact that he knew he was a miserable finder. As he was deep in thought, a loud noise startled him. He looked to the right, since this was where it had come from and saw a tiny metal bullet fall to the ground. His wall withstood. If he had a defense of this power he could take out the gunman first, right? He changed his direction and turned to the right to where the bullet had hit his force field. It would only be a matter of minutes for him to figure out where the sniper had positioned himself.

Even though he carefully watched his every step, he couldn't help but to stumble across legs and feet of the projections. Why were they even running at all? They were his creations – they should safe him from danger in this dream? He had to know what might make them act like that and grabbed after a man who was about to run into him.

"Stop it!", he screamed at him. "Why are you running? You're supposed to protect me for god's sake!"

He didn't answer. All he did was to look into his eyes with an empty expression in his face – showing nothing, neither fear nor anxiety nor anger nor – soul. How could he expect him to react, anyway? He was a puppet. A mere tool of his subconscious – or, well, Ariadne's. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate.

'Think, Arthur!', he told himself. 'Why would they be running? It's just because - '

He wasn't able to figure out an answer. Suddenly, his grip tensed up. He opened his eyes and saw that the man in front of him was shot and his powerless body was only held upright by Arthur. He let go of him and turned around. Shouldn't they have realized by now that they couldn't shoot him? Finally, he managed to escape the main crowd and found himself in front of two buildings that came into question. He hadn't run into a gunman so far, so all that was left were these buildings in which he could be situated. On the one side, there was a huge shopping mall and on the other side a cinema complex. Even as he was weighing out the possibilities someone – or rather something made it clear to him where he had to go. A shot hit his field on the left. The cinema. The moment he looked up the mirrored glass facade of the complex he could make out a rifle barrel disappear into the building. Would they really make it this obvious? He slowly approached the main door of the cinema. Inside, there was emptiness. The gunman had to be on a higher floor. The door wasn't even locked. Could these guys actually be so full of themselves that they didn't even prepare anything to keep intruders on distance? They couldn't have thought that no one would be able to pass the force field on the past level, right? He had to be on the watch for traps.

He entered the building and looked around cautiously. Tables, counters, benches...everything in perfect order. Quite comfortable, in fact.

'Somewhat similar to the style of a 60's café', he thought.

The deafening sound of an explosion caught his attention but he couldn't worry about it too long as windows around him shattered and a shock wave threw him right into a nearby counter. The last thing he saw before his head impinged were flames, pieces and splinters flying through the air.

His eyes opened again and he found himself in the middle of shatters and ashes. Glowing sparks were still waving before his eyes. Burning pieces of wood and parts of the cinema facade had buried dozens of projections outside.

What _was_ that?


End file.
